Changes of Soil Biogeochemistry under Native and Exotic Plants Species

Invasive plant species are major threats to the biodiversity and ecosystem stability. The purpose of this study is to understand the impacts of invasive plants on soil nutrient cycling and ecological functions. Soil samples were collected from rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere of both native and exotic plants from three genera, Lantana, Ficus and Schinus, at Tree Tops Park in South Florida, USA. Experimental results showed that the cultivable bacterial population in the soil under Brazilian pepper (invasive Schinus) was approximately ten times greater than all other plants. Also, Brazilian pepper lived under conditions of significantly lower available phosphorus but higher phosphatase activities than other sampled sites. Moreover, the respiration rates and soil macronutrients in rhizosphere soils of exotic plants were significantly higher than those of the natives (Phosphorus, p=0.034; Total Nitrogen, p=0.0067; Total Carbon, p=0.0243). Overall, the soil biogeochemical status under invasive plants was different from those of the natives.

Non-auditory Influences on the Auditory Periphery

Once thought to be predominantly the domain of cortex, multisensory integration has now been found at numerous sub-cortical locations in the auditory pathway. Prominent ascending and descending connection within the pathway suggest that the system may utilize non-auditory activity to help filter incoming sounds as they first enter the ear. Active mechanisms in the periphery, particularly the outer hair cells (OHCs) of the cochlea and middle ear muscles (MEMs), are capable of modulating the sensitivity of other peripheral mechanisms involved in the transduction of sound into the system. Through indirect mechanical coupling of the OHCs and MEMs to the eardrum, motion of these mechanisms can be recorded as acoustic signals in the ear canal. Here, we utilize this recording technique to describe three different experiments that demonstrate novel multisensory interactions occurring at the level of the eardrum. 1) In the first experiment, measurements in humans and monkeys performing a saccadic eye movement task to visual targets indicate that the eardrum oscillates in conjunction with eye movements. The amplitude and phase of the eardrum movement, which we dub the Oscillatory Saccadic Eardrum Associated Response or OSEAR, depended on the direction and horizontal amplitude of the saccade and occurred in the absence of any externally delivered sounds. 2) For the second experiment, we use an audiovisual cueing task to demonstrate a dynamic change to pressure levels in the ear when a sound is expected versus when one is not. Specifically, we observe a drop in frequency power and variability from 0.1 to 4kHz around the time when the sound is expected to occur in contract to a slight increase in power at both lower and higher frequencies. 3) For the third experiment, we show that seeing a speaker say a syllable that is incongruent with the accompanying audio can alter the response patterns of the auditory periphery, particularly during the most relevant moments in the speech stream. These visually influenced changes may contribute to the altered percept of the speech sound. Collectively, we presume that these findings represent the combined effect of OHCs and MEMs acting in tandem in response to various non-auditory signals in order to manipulate the receptive properties of the auditory system. These influences may have a profound, and previously unrecognized, impact on how the auditory system processes sounds from initial sensory transduction all the way to perception and behavior. Moreover, we demonstrate that the entire auditory system is, fundamentally, a multisensory system.

The cellular and mechanistic study of nisin inhibition of bacillus anthracis spore outgrowth, nisin alteration of infection, and native producer immunity

A critical step during Bacillus anthracis infection is the outgrowth of germinated spores into vegetative bacilli that proliferate and disseminate rapidly within the host. An important challenge exists for developing chemotherapeutic agents that act upon and kill B. anthracis immediately after germination initiation when antibiotic resistance is lost, but prior to the outgrowth into vegetative bacilli, which is accompanied by toxin production. Chemical agents must also function in a manner refractive to the development of antimicrobial resistance. In this thesis we have identified the lantibiotics as a class of chemotherapeutics that are predicted to satisfy these two criteria. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the efficacy of nisin, a prototypical lantibiotic, in prevention of outgrowth of germinated B. anthracis spores. Like all lantibiotics, nisin is a ribosomally translated peptide that undergoes post-translational modification to form (methyl)lanthionine rings that are critical for antimicrobial activity. Our studies indicate that nisin rapidly inhibits the in vitro outgrowth of germinated B. anthracis Sterne 7702 spores. Although germination initiation was shown to be essential for nisin-dependent antimicrobial activity, nisin did not inhibit or promote germination initiation. Nisin irreversibly killed germinated spores by blocking the establishment of a membrane potential and oxidative metabolism, while not affecting the dissolution of the outer spore structures. The membrane permeability of the spore was increased by nisin, but germinated spores did not undergo full lysis. Nisin was demonstrated to localize to lipid II, which is the penultimate precursor for cell wall biogenesis. This localization suggests two possible independent mechanisms of action, membrane pore formation and inhibition of peptidoglycan synthesis. Structure-activity studies with a truncated form of nisin lacking the two C-terminal (methyl)lanthionine rings and with non-pore forming mutants indicated that membrane disruption is essential for nisin-dependent inhibition of spore outgrowth to prevent membrane potential establishment. Finally, utilizing an in vitro infection model, it was shown that nisin reduced the viability of B. anthracis spores within an infection resulting in increased survival of immune cells while reducing infection-mediated cytokine expression. Fluorescence microscopy indicated that nisin localizes with spores within phagosomes of peritioneal macrophages in germinating conditions. These data demonstrate the effectiveness of nisin, as a model lantibiotic, for preventing spore outgrowth. It is speculated that nisin targeting of lipid II, resulting in membrane perturbations, may be effective at inhibiting the outgrowth of spores prepared from bacteria across a number of species.

ENZYME-FREE UBIQUITIN LIGATION. FROM NATIVE CHEMICAL LIGATION AND SPIN LABELING TO DIMERIZATION BY INTER-UBIQUITIN MIMICKING LINKAGE AND PH-DEPENDENT CONFORMATIONAL SWITCH

The delicate balance between the production and disposal of proteins is vital for the changes required in the cell to respond to given stimulus. Ubiquitination is a protein modification with a range of signaling outcomes when ubiquitin is attached to a protein through a highly ordered enzymatic cascade process. Understanding ubiquitination is a growing field and nowadays the application of chemical reactions allows the isolation of quantitative materials for structural studies. Therefore, in this dissertation it is described some of these suitable chemical methodologies to produce an isopeptide bond toward the polymerization of ubiquitin bypassing the enzymatic control with the purpose of showing if these chemical modifications have a direct impact on the structure of ubiquitin. First, the possibility of incorporating non-natural lysine analogs known as mercaptolysines into the polypeptide chain of Ubiquitin was explored when they were attached to ubiquitin by native chemical ligation at its C terminus. The sulfhydryl group was used for the attachment of a paramagnetic label to map the surface of ubiquitin. Second, the condensation catalyzed by silver nitrate was used for the dimer assembly. In particular, the main focus was on examining whether orthogonal protection and deprotection of each monomer have an impact on the reaction yield, since the synthetic strategy has been previously attempted successfully. Third, the formation of ubiquitin dimers was approached by building an inter-ubiquitin linkage mimicking the isopeptide bond with two approaches, the classic disulfide exchange as well as the thiol-ene click reaction by thermal initiation in aqueous conditions. After assembling the dimeric units, they were studied by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, in order to establish a conformational state profile which depends on the pH conditions. The latter is a very important concept since some ligands have a preferred affinity when the protein-protein hydrophobic patches are in close proximity.

Non-fermented and fermented jabuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora Mart.) pomaces as valuable sources of functional ingredients

abuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora. Mart) is a highly perishable fruit native to Brazil, which is consumed both fresh and industrially processed in the form of juices, jams, wines and distilled liqueurs. This processing generates a large amount of waste by-products, which represent approximately 50% of the fruit weight. The by-products are of interest for obtaining valuable bioactive compounds that could be used as nutraceuticals or functional ingredients. In this study, fermented and non-fermented jabuticaba pomaces were studied regarding their hydrophilic and lipophilic compounds, as well as their antioxidant properties, including: soluble sugars, organic acids and tocopherols (using high performance liquid chromatography coupled to refraction index, diode array and fluorescence detector, respectively); phenolics and anthocyanins, (using liquid chromatography coupled to diode array detection, and mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization); and fatty acids (using gas-liquid chromatography with flame ionization detection). The analytical data demonstrated that jabuticaba pomaces are a rich source of bioactive compounds such as tocopherols, polyunsaturated fatty acids and phenolic compounds (namely hydrolyzable tannins and anthocyanins) with antioxidant potential. Therefore, jabuticaba pomace may have good potential as a functional ingredient in the fabrication of human foods and animal feed.

Using dysphonic voice to characterize speaker's biometry

Phonation distortion leaves relevant marks in a speaker's biometric profile. Dysphonic voice production may be used for biometrical speaker characterization. In the present paper phonation features derived from the glottal source (GS) parameterization, after vocal tract inversion, is proposed for dysphonic voice characterization in Speaker Verification tasks. The glottal source derived parameters are matched in a forensic evaluation framework defining a distance-based metric specification. The phonation segments used in the study are derived from fillers, long vowels, and other phonation segments produced in spontaneous telephone conversations. Phonated segments from a telephonic database of 100 male Spanish native speakers are combined in a 10-fold cross-validation task to produce the set of quality measurements outlined in the paper. Shimmer, mucosal wave correlate, vocal fold cover biomechanical parameter unbalance and a subset of the GS cepstral profile produce accuracy rates as high as 99.57 for a wide threshold interval (62.08-75.04%). An Equal Error Rate of 0.64 % can be granted. The proposed metric framework is shown to behave more fairly than classical likelihood ratios in supporting the hypothesis of the defense vs that of the prosecution, thus ofering a more reliable evaluation scoring. Possible applications are Speaker Verification and Dysphonic Voice Grading.

Addressing overlapping land claim conflicts : an (alter)native approach

Le présent mémoire est consacré à l'étude des chevauchements entre revendications territoriales autochtones. On s'y interroge sur l’origine et l’évolution de ces chevauchements ainsi que sur les mécanismes qui pourraient être employés pour trouver des solutions acceptables pour toutes les parties. Notre étude retrace d'abord l'évolution du critère d’exclusivité élaboré par les politiques et décisions judiciaires canadiennes relativement à l’octroi du titre autochtone, concluant que ce critère d’exclusivité est devenu un enjeu déterminant dans l’élaboration d’une solution relative aux chevauchements entre revendications territoriales. En observant la manière dont les différents paliers de gouvernement ont échoué dans leurs tentatives de solutionner les enjeux de chevauchement, nous constatons que les traditions juridiques autochtones doivent être intégrées à la résolution des conflits et à l’interprétation du critère d’exclusivité. Ceci exige de percevoir l’institution juridique de la résolution de conflits selon une certaine vision du droit. Nous utilisons ici celle de Lon Fuller, qui présente une approche permettant de réconcilier plusieurs traditions juridiques. Notre étude nous conduit à proposer le système du Indigenous Legal Lodge comme mécanisme de résolution de conflit permettant aux autochtones de faire appel à leurs traditions juridiques dans la résolution des chevauchements, permettant ainsi de réconcilier ces traditions diverses.

Footrot caracterization in serra da estrela native flocks

Objectives: Serra da Estrela native (SEN) breed of sheep is one of the most important in Portugal, standing responsible for the production of one of the most internationally recognized cheeses in the world, "Queijo Serra da Estrela” (protected designation of origin). One of the major risks to the sustainability of SEN dairy flocks if footrot, an infectious diseases that causes lameness, decrease in milk production, weight loss and decrease in fertility.The aim of this work was to determine which parameters become decisive for the appearance of footrot in SEN dairy flocks, while establishing associations with environmental and nutritional variables. Materials and methods: The present study was carried out by performing an especially designed 27 multiple choice questionnaire, based on the underlying causes of lameness in livestock and in the clinical diagnosis performed by the vet techinichian of the clinical cases evaluated at the moment of the inquiry. The survey was performed during the execution of the oficial veterinary health program between February and September of 2014 by a veterinarian team from the Association of SEN Sheep Breeders (ANCOSE). The ovine producers (N=30, with a total of 1270 animals) were randomly selected from the extense area of production of “Queijo Serra da Estrela”. The parameters evaluated in the study were: season and consequent weather changes during the period of the study, floor types, hygiene conditions, bed types, the existence and use of footbaths, location of footbaths, foot trimming and foot hygiene procedures. After the construction of the database and using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16.0 the frequency response for each item was calculated. Results: All SEN livestock producers are proactive in the treatment of lameness (70%). About 99.7% of lameness was related with footroot and most appeared in winter (36.7%). In some occasions there was not a specific season distribution (56.7% rainiest years). From the analyzed farms, 70% use straw as a floor bed, followed by bush (21%). 45.6% of animals were clinically diagnosed with footrot and were sheltered in straw floor. Bed quality is good in 40%, however frequent changes in the floor bed in the preceding 15 days had a higher rate of footroot diagnosed cases (33,23%) compared to monthly changes. Regarding sheepfold animal number, the distribution is proper in 36.7%, elevated in 30%, overcrowded in 6.7% and low in 23.3%. Clinically ill diagnosed animals in last category were the lowest observed (3%). Concerning hoof trimming, 76.7% trims while 23.3% reported not to perform that task. From those that perform trimming, 73.9% do it only when necessary, 21.7% at the time of clipping and 4.4% when the animal is affected. One curious result was that animals who perform trimming at clipping had higher footrot cases (52.6%), unlike those who trim only when necessary (40.2%) or even when animals are clinically ill (0.91%). Mostly all in the presence of footrot choose a local treatment (95.2%) using antibiotic sprays, instead of parenteral antibiotic treatment. Footbath is rarely used in the prevention (13.3%) of this disease and when it is misconceived (25%) and incorrectly formulated (100%). Conclusion: This study is the first performed in Portugal focusing on footrot caracterization in native SEN flocks. The economic impact in SEN dairy flocks is atributed to factors such as the direct decrease in milk and meat production, the early slaughter of affected animals due to a non responsive treatment, and medical expenses. The most effective eradication method combines first of all the ability to understand the problems of SEN producers and then the implementation of preventive measures and treatment of footrot. Often linked to the lack of formation, and the advanced age of portuguese producers, the mentality and social factors block the advance of veterinarian intervention itself.

Addressing overlapping land claim conflicts : an (alter)native approach

Le présent mémoire est consacré à l'étude des chevauchements entre revendications territoriales autochtones. On s'y interroge sur l’origine et l’évolution de ces chevauchements ainsi que sur les mécanismes qui pourraient être employés pour trouver des solutions acceptables pour toutes les parties. Notre étude retrace d'abord l'évolution du critère d’exclusivité élaboré par les politiques et décisions judiciaires canadiennes relativement à l’octroi du titre autochtone, concluant que ce critère d’exclusivité est devenu un enjeu déterminant dans l’élaboration d’une solution relative aux chevauchements entre revendications territoriales. En observant la manière dont les différents paliers de gouvernement ont échoué dans leurs tentatives de solutionner les enjeux de chevauchement, nous constatons que les traditions juridiques autochtones doivent être intégrées à la résolution des conflits et à l’interprétation du critère d’exclusivité. Ceci exige de percevoir l’institution juridique de la résolution de conflits selon une certaine vision du droit. Nous utilisons ici celle de Lon Fuller, qui présente une approche permettant de réconcilier plusieurs traditions juridiques. Notre étude nous conduit à proposer le système du Indigenous Legal Lodge comme mécanisme de résolution de conflit permettant aux autochtones de faire appel à leurs traditions juridiques dans la résolution des chevauchements, permettant ainsi de réconcilier ces traditions diverses.

Distribuzione spaziale e temporale delle specie macrobentoniche aliene e native in ambienti portuali

La maggior parte degli insediamenti urbani si trova in prossimità delle coste e più del 50% della popolazione vive entro 100 km dal mare. Questo significa che l’ambiente marino è fortemente influenzato dalle attività antropiche e, per questo, è necessario creare un piano di gestione degli ambienti costieri, in quanto la resilienza dell’habitat marino dipende dall’uso sostenibile degli ecosistemi marini urbani. Lo scopo dello studio è quello di analizzare la distribuzione spaziale e temporale delle specie native e aliene, presenti sulle banchine del porto-canale di Ravenna. Sono stati analizzati i popolamenti intertidali di 6 siti lungo il canale Candiano dal 2016 al 2018 nei mesi di maggio. I risultati hanno illustrato un gradiente terra-mare a partire dai siti più interni lungo il porto-canale. Le specie più abbondanti identificate sono i due mitili Mytilus Galloprovincialis (specie nativa) e Xenostrobus securis (specie invasiva); queste specie si avvicendano nelle stazioni centrali del Candiano e si cedono il posto a vicenda: la specie nativa rimane nelle acque esterne e meno impattate mentre quella invasiva resta nei siti interni più soggetti a disturbi di vario tipo, come quello antropico. La terza specie più numerosa è Sphaeroma serratum, isopode nativo del Mediterraneo, presente da sempre nelle zone lagunari del ravennate; in questo studio è stato rinvenuto nelle stazioni più interne, che potrebbe sfruttare come rifugio da possibili competitori. I risultati hanno mostrato l’abbondanza e la diversità delle specie, indigene e non ,del porto di Ravenna: su un totale di 71 taxa diversi, le specie aliene rappresentavano il 17%; queste sono state rinvenute soprattutto nei siti di campionamento più interni, dove sono presenti condizioni più limitanti e sfavorevoli per le specie native. Inoltre, è stato osservato come la diversità specifica aumenti lungo il gradiente mare-terra, considerando le zone con maggiore diversità anche quelle con maggiore specie aliene.

Audiovisual materials and second-language acquisition: a comparison between native language subtitles and target language captions.

Over the last few years, the massive popularity of video streaming platforms has managed to impact our daily habits by making the watching of movies and TV shows one of the main activities of our free time. By providing a wide range of foreign language audiovisual content, these entertainment services may represent a powerful resource for language learners, as they provide them with the possibility to be exposed to authentic input. Moreover, research has shown the beneficial role of audiovisual textual aids such as native language subtitles and target language captions in enhancing language skills such as vocabulary and listening comprehension. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the existing literature on the subject of subtitled and captioned audiovisual materials used as a pedagogical tool for informal language learning.

Implementazione di un sistema di Continuous Integration e Continuous Deployment per il rilascio di microservizi Cloud Native su piattaforma Kubernetes

Il processo di sviluppo di un’applicazione comprende più fasi, ognuna strettamente correlata alle altre. Una delle fasi di questo processo è il rilascio del software, che consiste nel rendere disponibile agli utenti l’applicazione caricandone l’eseguibile su un server, sul quale verrà poi eseguita. Per un’azienda di sviluppo software è particolarmente importante automatizzare e standardizzare il processo di rilascio del software, allo scopo di renderlo più veloce e di diminuire il tempo che intercorre fra una modifica e il momento in cui questa viene effettivamente resa disponibile per gli utenti, ottimizzando infine l’impegno degli sviluppatori. La presente tesi descrive l’implementazione di un sistema di Continuous Integration e Continuous Deliveliry scalabile su una software house con più di 900 dipendenti suddivisi in decine di team, ognuno dei quali ha in carico lo sviluppo di vari software. Le applicazioni realizzate dai team sono generalmente microservizi in esecuzione all’interno di container su piattaforma Kubernetes. Sono state quindi valutate le varie alternative per la realizzazione di questo sistema, analizzandone pro e contro, scegliendo infine GitLab per la parte di Continuous Integration e ArgoCD per la parte di Continuous Deployment. Nei vari capitoli viene quindi analizzata l’infrastruttura esistente e vengono illustrati i vantaggi e svantaggi delle varie soluzioni considerate. Per i due software selezionati viene invece descritto il lavoro svolto, con dettagli sul funzionamento del sistema e la configurazione necessaria per il corretto funzionamento dell’intero processo. La soluzione realizzata effettua build, test, code validation e deploy delle applicazioni seguendo un pattern GitOps, con un repository git contenente la configurazione attuale delle applicazioni, permettendo rollback in caso di problematiche e garantendo un alto livello di sicurezza attraverso il mantenimento dello storico della configurazione e della versione delle applicazioni.

Egfr Activating Mutations And Their Association With Response To Platinum-doublet Chemotherapy In Brazilian Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients.

The aim of the study was to analyze the frequency of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in Brazilian non-small cell lung cancer patients and to correlate these mutations with response to benefit of platinum-based chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Our cohort consisted of prospective patients with NSCLCs who received chemotherapy (platinum derivates plus paclitaxel) at the [UNICAMP], Brazil. EGFR exons 18-21 were analyzed in tumor-derived DNA. Fifty patients were included in the study (25 with adenocarcinoma). EGFR mutations were identified in 6/50 (12 %) NSCLCs and in 6/25 (24 %) adenocarcinomas; representing the frequency of EGFR mutations in a mostly self-reported White (82.0 %) southeastern Brazilian population of NSCLCs. Patients with NSCLCs harboring EGFR exon 19 deletions or the exon 21 L858R mutation were found to have a higher chance of response to platinum-paclitaxel (OR 9.67 [95 % CI 1.03-90.41], p = 0.047). We report the frequency of EGFR activating mutations in a typical southeastern Brazilian population with NSCLC, which are similar to that of other countries with Western European ethnicity. EGFR mutations seem to be predictive of a response to platinum-paclitaxel, and additional studies are needed to confirm or refute this relationship.

Fatty Acid Synthase Inhibitors Induce Apoptosis In Non-tumorigenic Melan-a Cells Associated With Inhibition Of Mitochondrial Respiration.

The metabolic enzyme fatty acid synthase (FASN) is responsible for the endogenous synthesis of palmitate, a saturated long-chain fatty acid. In contrast to most normal tissues, a variety of human cancers overexpress FASN. One such cancer is cutaneous melanoma, in which the level of FASN expression is associated with tumor invasion and poor prognosis. We previously reported that two FASN inhibitors, cerulenin and orlistat, induce apoptosis in B16-F10 mouse melanoma cells via the intrinsic apoptosis pathway. Here, we investigated the effects of these inhibitors on non-tumorigenic melan-a cells. Cerulenin and orlistat treatments were found to induce apoptosis and decrease cell proliferation, in addition to inducing the release of mitochondrial cytochrome c and activating caspases-9 and -3. Transfection with FASN siRNA did not result in apoptosis. Mass spectrometry analysis demonstrated that treatment with the FASN inhibitors did not alter either the mitochondrial free fatty acid content or composition. This result suggests that cerulenin- and orlistat-induced apoptosis events are independent of FASN inhibition. Analysis of the energy-linked functions of melan-a mitochondria demonstrated the inhibition of respiration, followed by a significant decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and the stimulation of superoxide anion generation. The inhibition of NADH-linked substrate oxidation was approximately 40% and 61% for cerulenin and orlistat treatments, respectively, and the inhibition of succinate oxidation was approximately 46% and 52%, respectively. In contrast, no significant inhibition occurred when respiration was supported by the complex IV substrate N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD). The protection conferred by the free radical scavenger N-acetyl-cysteine indicates that the FASN inhibitors induced apoptosis through an oxidative stress-associated mechanism. In combination, the present results demonstrate that cerulenin and orlistat induce apoptosis in non-tumorigenic cells via mitochondrial dysfunction, independent of FASN inhibition.

Imported Malaria In A Non-endemic Area: The Experience Of The University Of Campinas Hospital In The Brazilian Southeast.

Although malaria in Brazil almost exclusively occurs within the boundaries of the Amazon Region, some concerns are raised regarding imported malaria to non-endemic areas of the country, notably increased incidence of complications due to delayed diagnoses. However, although imported malaria in Brazil represents a major health problem, only a few studies have addressed this subject. A retrospective case series is presented in which 263 medical charts were analysed to investigate the clinical and epidemiological characterization of malaria cases that were diagnosed and treated at Hospital & Clinics, State University of Campinas between 1998 and 2011. Amongst all medical charts analysed, 224 patients had a parasitological confirmed diagnosis of malaria. Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum were responsible for 67% and 30% of the infections, respectively. The majority of patients were male (83%) of a productive age (median, 37 years old). Importantly, severe complications did not differ significantly between P. vivax (14 cases, 9%) and P. falciparum (7 cases, 10%) infections. Severe malaria cases were frequent among imported cases in Brazil outside of the Amazon area. The findings reinforce the idea that P. vivax infections in Brazil are not benign, regardless the endemicity of the area studied. Moreover, as the hospital is located in a privileged site, it could be used for future studies of malaria relapses and primaquine resistance mechanisms. Finally, based on the volume of cases treated and the secondary complications, referral malaria services are needed in the non-endemic areas of Brazil for a rapid and efficient and treatment.